VANITY... Books That Have Influenced You

[Minus_The_Bear]

What books have influenced your political, religious, or historical reasoning?

[Pietro]

thanks for starting this thread, I always enjoy finding out what other freepers have read. Most of the classics stated here can stand alone and don't need to be seconded by me, but one that hasn't been mentioned, which I think stands alone among American letters is:

Huckleberry Finn

To any freepers that haven't read this book, and I doubt there are many, please, please rush out and get a copy. It is in my mind the quintessentional protrait of an American.

[MarkL]

Funny, I just watched Spiderman last night on TNT. It was the first time I ever seen the movie, and I only watched it because nothing else was on, plus my two adult sons have been on me to watch it. I was surprised that I actually enjoyed watching it--as corny as it was. Had I not watched the movie, your comment would not have made sense to me. Have a great week!

There have been quite a number of well written comics and "graphic novels" with serious topics addressed. Some of my favorites were the "Uncanny X-Men."

Mark

[k omalley]

The Narnia books, the trilogy, "The Great Divorce" C.S. Lewis

"Song of Bernadette" Franz Werfel

The Holy Bible

"Radical Son" David Horowitz

"Theology and Social Theory" John Milbank

[thepainster]

Just now reading

Lyndon Johnson-Path to Power by Caro. It is a fascinating history of Texas, New Deal Politics and the Depression. It is the first of three on LBJ and his rise to power. The resarch Caro did was monumental. I highly recommend this series to all Freepers.

[johnny7]

As a child;

Lord of the Flies -Golding, From Pearl Harbor to Okinawa -Bliven, Legion of Strangers -Mercer, On the Beach -Shute

As an adult;

The Quest of the Historical Jesus -Schweitzer. The Last Lion -Manchester, Son of the Morning Star -Connell, Goodbye Darkness -Manchester, Memoirs of the Second World War -Churchill, The Pacific War 1941-1945 -Costello

[Biblical Calvinist]

There are others, but these are the important books that have been influential in helping to form the worldview that I now hold..

God - "The Bible"- various versions; mostly The New American Standard version.

Francis A. Schaeffer- "The God Who Is There", "Escape From Reason", and "He Is There And He Is Not Silent", "How Should We Then Live"- (These books were most influential in turning my thinking around.)

John Calvin- "The Institutes of the Christian Religion" and Calvin's Commentaries

Loraine Boettner- "The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination"

J.I. Packer- "Knowing God"

Martin Luther- "The Bondage of The Will"

R.C. Sproul- "Grace Unknown"

Michael Horton- "Putting Grace Back Into Amazing"

[Migraine]

[ The Ancient Engineers by L. Sprague de Camp ]

This kind of research is of utmost fascination to me, too, which is why I included The Roads That Led to Rome, post #49. I'll have to read yours next.

[Graymatter]

Cboldt is suspended from FR. What is going on? Second time in 2 days a favorite freeper of mine gone poof.

[Minus_The_Bear]

BTTT

[LK44-40]

The Hardy Boys - when cool was a "roadster" and dicks were "sleuths"

E.B. White's essays (various collections)

Thoreau's Walden...the raspy old radical can stir you...but I got over it

Erik Erikson's Youth, Identity, and Crisis, a paste up job of his various projects; uneven, at times obscure, but the insights seemed so profound for many years; rarely look at it now

Adam Gopnik's Paris to the Moon: I was ready for a good obsession and this book set off a complete obsession (love AND hate) with France that is now five years old

[TChris]

The Holy Bible
The Book of Mormon (and other LDS scripture)
Various C.S. Lewis
The Proper Role of Government - Ezra Taft Benson
1984 - Orwell
The Prince - Machiavelli

[TChris]

Oh, and...

Radical Son - Horowitz
Basic Economics - Sowell

[Old Professer]

Witness, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and The Closing of the American Mind all seem to satisfy that nagging, "just as I suspected" thought lurking in the back of one's mind as he slogs his way through the modern world.

[TChris]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

I've heard interesting things about that one.

[Alberta's Child]

Wealth and Poverty by George Gilder

Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics and Applied Economics

The Tempting of America by Robert Bork

For sports fans out there, Ken Dryden's The Game and Home Game: Hockey and Life in Canada are two of the best sports books I've ever read.

[Centurion2000]

Holy Bible
1984
Animal Farm
Brave New World : Huxley
Starship Troopers
Atlas Shrugged
Demon in the Freezer
Cataclysm! : Compelling Evidence of a Cosmic Catastrophe in 9500 B.C.
Patriots : James Rawles
Unintended Consequences : John Ross
Lost Rights : James Bovard
The Prince : Machiavelli
The Art of War : Sun Tzu
The Domaination of the Draka Novels : SM Stirling (the bad guys win, for once)

bump for later

[Hi Heels]

Beautiful Joe

Anything by Torey Hayden

[chalkfarmer]

A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving

[muir_redwoods]

A World Lit Only by Fire by William Manchester, Killer Angels by Michael Shaara and the four volume set of The Masks of God by Joseph Campbell.

I've read and re-read and re-re-read them. I've given away more copies of the Manchester and Shaara books than I can count.

Oh and Childhoods End by Arthur Clarke, an absolute classic, if you haven't read it yet, I envy you.

[Revolting cat!]

VANITY... Books That Have Influenced You

I don't read vanity press books, sorry.